Daily Prayer with Regnum Christi - Who Is He, for Me?

JWorld SG

We pray for the personal intentions of those families who have asked us for our prayers, that we will have them in mind and that God may grant them all they need.

Who Is He, for Me?
March 9, 2005
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Fr. Jon Budke, LC

John 5: 17-30

Jesus answered the Jews: My Father is at work until now, so I am at work. For this reason the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God. Jesus answered and said to them, Amen, amen, I say to you, a son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing; for what he does, his son will do also. For the Father loves his Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes. Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to his Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to his Son the possession of life in himself. And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation. I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

JWorld SG

Introductory Prayer: Lord, make me a reflection of you, the light of hope in a world so obscured and darkened by sin. Without you I would be a wanderer in the darkness. You give me light, you give my life meaning. You fill me with a wonder and joy I cannot keep to myself. Show me what you do and who you are so that I may love you as I should.

Petition:Lord let me know you so that I may love you, and in loving you give my whole life to you.

JWorld SG

1. On Trial The controversy Jesus engages the Jews in concerns the promise that the Old Covenant held for the chosen people. Jesus Christ comes as the fulfillment of that promise, and they are unwilling to accept him, even when it is God the Father who gives testimony to him. The sign just accomplished, giving health instantly to a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years and so many more of Christs miracles could be worked only with Gods power. Yet they will not accept him. He has been placed on trial. It does not matter how many witnesses he presents: neither John the Baptist nor all the prophets before him; not even that which could be done only by Gods power would convince them. He made himself out to be God, and they consider it blasphemy.

2. Who Do You Say That I Am? The controversy is not only about the authenticity of Jesus mission as the promised Messiah. It is also about who God really is. We see this dramatic struggle already in the history of salvation. God the shepherd and father of his people sends Moses to lead the people out of slavery amid great wonders and a show of power. Yet in this incredible moment, the people, careless in the absence of Moses, turn to worship a golden calf and commit the sin of idolatry. As we find in Exodus 32:8, in place of the invisible God, they made for themselves a molten calf and worshiped it crying, This is your God. It is a moment of choice for the people; led from slavery and offered the promise land, they refuse God in exchange for a bit of glitter. Scores of generations have passed between that moment and ours, but the struggle and controversy continue deep in the human heart and in society around us. God continues to struggle with our limitations and short-sightedness, our blindness to him. In his patience he still calls us to know him as he is and accept the truth of revelation, the mystery of God. For he is in fact the God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life (John 3:16).

3. Branches on the Vine "I am the true vine" (Jn 15:1). Christ pronounces these words, the allegory of the vine and the branches, the day before his passion. The timing points to the words significance. Of all the metaphors and parables of the Gospel, this one synthesizes for us the work Christ does for our salvation, culminating in the paschal mystery. "I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser." In todays Gospel we find a striking parallel: "My Father is at work until now, so I am at work". The Father works through the Son, and the Father´s work resembles that of the vinedresser. When the Son refers to himself as the true vine, he does so because the Father has decided to give us new life in him and through him. On the eve of his death Jesus stresses this point to his Apostles. The words have a special eloquence because his death, the sacrifice of the Cross, will become the source of life for us. It is the vine through which the new life, divine life, will be given to the "branches."

JWorld SG

Dialogue with Christ: Blessed are you, Lord, because you gave me a lamp, and you commanded I set it lighted upon a lampstand so that whoever enters may see the light, which is you. It is not about my own vanity. Often you call me to lift up your light to others so they can see beyond the tinsel of foolish appearances to the misery of the world. We can then remain in the true light, which is you. Let us remain with you Lord, every moment of every day, be it in our prayer or in doing your will.

Resolution: Today I will stop in to visit Christ Jesus in the Eucharist, or make a spiritual communion to renew my commitment to love him above all things.